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American Idol season 11 champ Phillip Phillips made a flashy return to the show on Thursday night’s (March 6) Season 13 Top 12 results show. Declaring a “Raging Fire” with his newly-released single, the Americana-style singer brought out the dramatic, backed by string and big band instruments.

“Raging Fire” serves as the lead offering from his yet-untitled sophomore album, following 2012′s The World From The Side Of The Moon. From that debut set, Phillips released two No. 1 AAA hits “Home,” which was featured on the summer Olympic Games and is the best-selling Idol track in history, and “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

Upon its release, Side of the Moon lifted off at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, shifting 169,000 copies and has since been certified platinum by the RIAA with sales exceeding one million units.

In a recent interview with Billboard, the singer-songwriter revealed that he and his “Raging Fire” co-writers Todd Clark, Derek Fuhrmann and Gregg Wattenberg finished the song “barely one week” before the song hit iTunes. ”We sent it to the label — we already had a few other singles, but we sent them that one, and they were really excited and wanted to put it out [immediately],” he says. “It’s a love song, but it’s also a little heavier, too. It’s got a little bit of an edgier side to it, and I really like that.”

As a result of his blockbuster breakout, he has been touring the country the past year, joining such major label artists as Matchbox Twenty and John Mayer.